FSFE and the antitrust case against Microsoft

Working with the Samba developers, FSFE's role was to
ensure that Free Software developers would not be
prevented from using information published as a result
of the European Commission's antitrust case against
Microsoft. See also: Background
details, Timeline
of the case.

Representation of developer's interest

FSFE played two key roles in this case. First, we represented the
interests of Free Software developers. E.g. in our official role as
Intervener, we pushed the European Commission to reject any royalty
requirements that would be incompatible with Free Software. We also
argued constantly for the publication of good quality technical
documentation and against lock-out of Free Software based on arbitrary
manipulations of formats and standards.

Incorruptible

Second, FSFE was a public interest organisation who couldn't be bought
off. The case began with many companies giving testimony of Microsoft's
breaches of antitrust regulation, but one-by-one these companies made
deals with Microsoft and withdrew from the case. FSFE and SIIA were the
only two organisations that pursued this case from start to finish. We
were later joined by ECIS, who did extraordinary work, but there were
moments when it got lonely for the Commission.

Getting interoperability information

At the heart of this case was that the European Commission would require
Microsoft to publish interoperability information. Comparable to
dictionaries and grammar books for human languages, this type of
information is necessary for non-Microsoft software, such as Samba
running on GNU/Linux, to communicate and function fully within existing
client-server Microsoft networks.

Previously, the Samba developers had to figure this information out by
protocol analysis only. This information that Microsoft had was not
secret because it was valuable. It was valuable only because it was
secret.

Investigation case won every ruling

Thanks also to the persistent work by Carlo Piana, Andrew Tridgell,
Jeremy Allison, Volker Lendecke, Georg Greve and other people acting on
FSFE and Samba's behalf, the investigation case won every ruling - From
the European Commission in Brussels to the European Court of Justice in
Luxembourg.

Interoperable applications now possible

Information has now been published and is being used by the developers
of Samba and many other projects to improve network interoperability
for Free Software applications. This facilitates migration to Free
Software. The court rulings have also set important precedents
regarding unacceptable business practices.